Admin: Create 2018 NXL season article covering the US calendar, professional expansion, formats, event winners, season champions and Aftershock–Aftermath relegation and promotion.

2026-11-02T19:50:03Z

Create 2018 NXL season article covering the US calendar, professional expansion, formats, event winners, season champions and Aftershock–Aftermath relegation and promotion.

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The '''2018 NXL season''' was the [[National Xball League]]'s United States national tournament season, comprising five events from March to November. [[Houston Heat]] won the professional season championship, while [[San Diego Aftermath]] won Semi-Pro.[1]

== Calendar ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Dates !! Venue !! Location
|-
| [[2018 NXL Las Vegas Open|Las Vegas Open]]
| 9–11 March 2018
| Craig Ranch Regional Park
| North Las Vegas, Nevada
|-
| [[2018 NXL Texas Open|Texas Open]]
| 4–6 May 2018
| Texas Motor Speedway
| Fort Worth, Texas
|-
| [[2018 NXL Atlantic City Open|Atlantic City Open]]
| 22–24 June 2018
| Bader Field
| Atlantic City, New Jersey
|-
| [[2018 NXL Chicago Open|Chicago Open]]
| 14–16 September 2018
| Chicago Gaelic Park
| Oak Forest, Illinois
|-
| [[2018 NXL World Cup|World Cup]]
| 8–11 November 2018
| 6000 West Osceola Parkway
| Kissimmee, Florida
|}

Sources: official event information.[2][3][4][5][6]

== Professional expansion ==

The professional division expanded from 16 teams to 20 for 2018. Sacramento DMG, New York Xtreme, Scottsdale Elevation and MLKings joined the professional field.[7]

Seattle Thunder retained a professional place through the expansion after finishing last in the 2017 standings. The league's broadcaster subsequently described Thunder as having been saved from relegation by the expansion.[8]

== Formats ==

The national programme included Professional, Semi-Pro and Division 2–4 X-Ball, separate Division 3–5 five-player competitions, Open and Amateur ten-player divisions, and Open and Amateur three-player competitions. Selected events also offered pump and mechanical five-player competition.[9][10][11][12][13]

The 2018 NXL rulebook specified timed, multiple-point X-Ball matches with division-specific mercy limits.[14]

{| class="wikitable"
! Division !! Regulation playing time !! Mercy-rule lead
|-
| Professional || 15 minutes || Six points
|-
| Semi-Pro || 15 minutes || Five points
|-
| Division 2 || 15 minutes || Five points
|-
| Division 3 || 12 minutes || Four points
|-
| Division 4 || 12 minutes || Four points
|}

For the expanded professional division, ten teams advanced from the preliminary round. Six advanced directly to the quarter-finals, while four entered a wildcard round to determine the remaining two quarter-finalists.[14]

World Cup also included separate championship divisions and competitions played on mounds fields.[13]

== Professional competition ==

[[Edmonton Impact]] won Las Vegas and Atlantic City, Houston Heat won Texas and World Cup, and [[Moscow Red Legion]] won Chicago.[9][10][11][12][13]

{| class="wikitable"
! Event !! Winner !! Runner-up
|-
| Las Vegas Open || Edmonton Impact || [[San Antonio X-Factor]]
|-
| Texas Open || Houston Heat || Edmonton Impact
|-
| Atlantic City Open || Edmonton Impact || [[ac Dallas|ac DALLAS]]
|-
| Chicago Open || Moscow Red Legion || [[Los Angeles Ironmen]]
|-
| World Cup || Houston Heat || Moscow Red Legion
|}

Sources: official final placings.[9][10][11][12][13]

The professional World Cup final also decided the season championship. Houston Heat needed to win the final to secure the series title; a Moscow Red Legion victory would instead have given the season championship to Edmonton Impact.[15]

=== Final professional standings ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Position !! Team !! Season points
|-
| 1 || Houston Heat || 873
|-
| 2 || Edmonton Impact || 871
|-
| 3 || Moscow Red Legion || 808
|-
| 4 || ac DALLAS || 800
|-
| 5 || [[San Diego Dynasty]] || 786
|}

Source: final season standings.[1]

== Divisional event winners ==

Team names below follow the individual event records.

{| class="wikitable"
! Division !! Las Vegas[9] !! Texas[10] !! Atlantic City[11] !! Chicago[12] !! World Cup[13]
|-
| Semi-Pro X-Ball
| San Diego Aftermath
| San Diego Aftermath
| Indianapolis Mutiny
| San Diego Aftermath
| Indianapolis Mutiny
|-
| Division 2 X-Ball
| Camp Pendleton Raiders
| Preferred mob
| Carolina Crisis
| Camp Pendleton Raiders
| Gulf Coast Hurricanes
|-
| Division 3 X-Ball
| TOG
| Str8Killas
| Royal City Seadogs II
| Blastcamp Revolution
| Raw Material
|-
| Division 4 X-Ball
| PaintballFIT.com
| PaintballFIT.com
| Annapolis A-Team RBC
| PaintballFIT.com
| DSO
|-
| Open ten-player
| Boom
| Los Angeles Ironmen 10 Man
| Washington Winstons
| FCK Cancer Allstarz
| Boom
|-
| Amateur ten-player
| Tsunami
| Narcos
| TJ Evans Turrets
| GOATMOB
| T.B.L
|-
| Division 3 five-player
| TNB
| Veteran Militia
| Richmond Rage
| Veteran Militia
| Veteran Militia
|-
| Division 4 five-player
| A.M.H
| Cen Cal Alliance
| Super Fast
| Thunderstruck
| TBD AH-SO
|-
| Division 5 five-player
| Austin Chaos D5
| Renegades
| Austin Chaos D5
| Austin Chaos D5
| DeaD RaBBiTs
|-
| Open three-player
| UNDR BOIS
| OUTLAWS
| Wild Dogs
| CD3 BSB
| G.O.A.T.S
|-
| Amateur three-player
| Veteran Militia Bravo
| Fox Brothers BATTALION
| XPX
| Destiny X
| WKIT
|}

Scorpions won Mechanical Open five-player at Las Vegas and Texas. Steve the Pirates Wrecking Crew won the division at Chicago. Atlantic City's record listed Scorpions first without ranking points.[9][10][11][12]

LA Hitmen.com won Open pump five-player at Las Vegas, while SOS won the division at World Cup.[9][13]

=== Additional World Cup results ===

{| class="wikitable"
! Competition !! Winner
|-
| Championship Division 3 X-Ball || LVPP Icemen NAC
|-
| Championship Division 4 X-Ball || Dead Rabbits NAC
|-
| Championship Division 4/5 RaceTo-2 five-player || Take Notes NAC
|-
| Mounds Open ten-player || Saberwolves
|-
| Mounds Open five-player || All Americans
|}

Source: World Cup final placings. These were separate competitions from the regular divisional season standings.[13]

== Season champions ==

The following teams finished first in the published standings for divisions contested across multiple national events.[1]

{| class="wikitable"
! Division !! First-placed team !! Season points
|-
| Professional X-Ball || Houston Heat || 873
|-
| Semi-Pro X-Ball || San Diego Aftermath || 473.08
|-
| Division 2 X-Ball || Camp Pendleton Raiders || 430.05
|-
| Division 3 X-Ball || VINTAGE || 452.66
|-
| Division 4 X-Ball || Noobies || 426.8
|-
| Open ten-player || Washington Winstons || 270.71
|-
| Amateur ten-player || Tsunami || 169.14
|-
| Division 3 five-player || Veteran Militia || 362.14
|-
| Division 4 five-player || Cen Cal Alliance || 326.99
|-
| Division 5 five-player || Austin Chaos D5 || 392.5
|-
| Mechanical Open five-player || Scorpions || 255
|-
| Open three-player || G.O.A.T.S || 229.29
|-
| Amateur three-player || LOS BOLSONES || 357.14
|}

San Diego Aftermath finished 0.49 points ahead of Indianapolis Mutiny, which accumulated 472.59 points.[1]

== Promotion and relegation ==

The 2018 rulebook provided for the last-placed professional team to be relegated to Semi-Pro and the first-placed Semi-Pro team to be promoted for the following season.[14]

[[Chicago Aftershock]] finished twentieth professionally and was relegated. Semi-Pro champion San Diego Aftermath moved into the professional division for 2019.[1][7]

== See also ==

* [[National Xball League]]
* [[2017 NXL season]]
* [[2019 NXL season]]
* [[Paintball in the United States]]

== References ==

# [https://pbleagues.com/league/316/seasonRankings/2018 PBLeagues – National XBall League: 2018 season rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5760/info PBLeagues – 2018 Las Vegas Open: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5902/info PBLeagues – 2018 Texas Open: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5969/info PBLeagues – 2018 Atlantic City Open: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5976/info PBLeagues – 2018 Chicago Open: event information.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5978/info PBLeagues – 2018 World Cup: event information.]
# [https://zenandtheartofpaintball.com/tag/zenandtheartofpaintball-3/ Zen and the Art of Paintball – Retrospective comparison of professional newcomers, including the 2018 expansion and Aftermath's replacement of relegated Aftershock in 2019.]
# [https://www.mlpbplus.com/videos/thunder-scouting-report Major League Paintball Plus – Thunder: Scouting Report.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5760/rankings PBLeagues – 2018 Las Vegas Open: final rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5902/rankings PBLeagues – 2018 Texas Open: final rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5969/rankings PBLeagues – 2018 Atlantic City Open: final rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5976/rankings PBLeagues – 2018 Chicago Open: final rankings.]
# [https://pbleagues.com/event/5978/rankings PBLeagues – 2018 World Cup: final rankings.]
# [https://www.canyonpaintball.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NXL-RULE-BOOK-2018.pdf National Xball League – NXL Rules 2018, version 1.0, sections 5 and 8; copy hosted by Canyon Paintball.]
# [https://www.mlpbplus.com/2018 GoSports, archived by Major League Paintball Plus – 2018 broadcasts, including “Sunday Set 10 – Red Legion vs Heat”.]

[[Category:National Xball League seasons]]
[[Category:Paintball in the United States]]
[[Category:2010s in American paintball]]
[[Category:2018 in paintball]]

2018 NXL season - Revision history

Admin: Create 2018 NXL season article covering the US calendar, professional expansion, formats, event winners, season champions and Aftershock–Aftermath relegation and promotion.